


Valentine Bloody Valentine

by Cornerofmadness



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, Murder, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:40:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27406729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerofmadness/pseuds/Cornerofmadness
Summary: Edrisa wants Malcolm to know how much she appreciates him being part of the team.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 18
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	Valentine Bloody Valentine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vanillafluffy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanillafluffy/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** Not mine, Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver owns it
> 
> **Notes:** Written for vanillafluffy for the prompt Prodigal Son, any, My Bloody Valentine and for trope_bingo for the prompt walk in another man’s shoes.

Edrisa paused in the bullpen, looking for Bright. He had done amazing work on their latest case, and he needed to know that. He’d only been back a few days now that he had returned from Tahiti. Edrisa knew many things about her friend but the thing she knew best was no matter what Bright said, he wasn’t all right. He had gone through hell, and while the team had been there for him, sometimes their help might not have been as helpful as it could have been, especially in the first mental competency test with Coppenrath. Even she had messed that up a little. 

That said, Edrisa wanted Bright to know just how much his being back meant to the team. She might be a peripheral part of the group but an important part none the less. She knew they respected her work even if they thought she was weird. In Bright she had a kindred weird spirit who liked so many of the things she did.

To that end, she had gone out to get him a congratulatory coffee. She knew he liked the beverage but once she had gotten to the coffee shop, she had to decide what sort he might like. She had never asked: her bad. She decided since they already had so much in common he might like what she did so she was torn between the honey lavender latte or a Caffè Medici. She went with the latter, freaking a few people out while she waited in line, because she had been looking at some of the crime scene pictures on her phone, just to be sure she hadn’t missed anything. Eventually she’d be called to testify down the road.

It had been a strange crime scene, someone had daubed bloody hearts all around the victim’s head as he lay on the blood drenched bed. They had literally dipped Valentine’s day hearts into his blood and pressed it into the pillow case and along the wall. They’d found the paper hearts shredded up in the toilet, which hadn’t flushed correctly. Unfortunately, the Valentines were mush and no useable prints had been found on the pieces. No, it had been Bright’s key insight into the human mind that had led to the man’s wife and mistress, both of whom were heading for the Canadian border together. They had fallen hard for each other and apparently had had more than enough of one Mr. John Perkins. It had been a very weird Valentine’s Day case for them.

Malcolm sat at his desk, his head resting on a shaky hand. His eyes had a scary vacant look, and Edrisa hoped that didn’t mean he was having second thoughts about this sort of work. A trip to paradise might reorder one’s thinking, after all. She wended her way through the bullpen, right past JT who shot her a look. He could moan all he wanted about not being able to deal with her and Bright. She knew he was teasing – well mostly - and she didn’t really care what anyone thought of her. That was a long-standing self-preservation defense for her.

“I come bearing gifts,” she said, making sure she sounded her cheeriest.

Malcolm startled, obviously off in his own little world. He let his hand drop, straightening up. He smiled. “Oh?”

“I thought maybe you could take a coffee break.” Edrisa glanced around not seeing another chair at his desk. Maybe she should have asked him to the lab but the smells there often didn’t mix well with fancy coffee. 

His smile broadened. “I would love that.” He pushed back from his desk and beckoned her to follow. The precinct’s break room was all but empty, and Bright pulled out a chair for her like the gentleman he was.

Smiling, Edrisa sat and handed him his drink. “It’s a Caffè Medici. I didn’t know what you might like, and I really like it so I thought…anyhow, I hope you like it.”

“I’ve never had one. What is it?”

“A doppio poured over chocolate syrup and orange peels and topped with whipped cream, and now that I say it, maybe it’s not your thing.” Edrisa made a face. She hated thinking of things in gendered terms but maybe chocolate and whipped cream were girlie.

“Love chocolate, that sounds fantastic. Thank you. What do I owe the honors to?” He took a sip, his eyes fluttering shut as a huge smile broke out over his face. “Oh, this is good!”

“It’s just a welcome back and an I missed you.” Edrisa smiled. 

“I missed you too,” he said. “I thought about you and the team while I was away, and of how much more relaxing it might be if I were working.”

“I don’t think that’s how relaxing works,” she said, channeling her best Dani. 

Bright laughed. “My mother certainly doesn’t think so but I actually like working. It’s when I’m alone…”

“You have too much time to think,” Edrisa finished his thought.

He nodded. “Thanks for understanding.”

“I was wondering if you would be willing to do a favor for me and my friend, which is definitely not why I brought you coffee! I seriously did just want to say welcome back and thanks and let’s talk.”

“I don’t mind doing favors, Edrisa. What can I do for you?”

“I am friends with someone who does a true crime podcast and I was wondering if you’d be willing to talk about your process. Like this case with the bloody valentines, how did you make the leap so quickly to this being a case where the wife and the mistress had met and decided they’d rather have each other and why not just go off without him?”

“From all accounts John Perkins was an annoying man,” Bright replied. “I’ve never done a podcast before. What would I have to do?”

“Just talk. You can come with me when we’re going to record it, and my friend doesn’t know who your father really is. I thought that would be…unfair. You do know you’ve built up quite a reputation among the online forensic buffs, right? From your FBI days til now, well actually maybe earlier. That paper you wrote while you were still in Harvard about non-sexually oriented serial killers was amazing.”

“You read that? Wait, people talk about my work online? Really?” His brow got a cute little knot in it as he worked through that idea mentally.

“They do and I have. I suppose maybe I shouldn’t have brought up the paper. I wasn’t thinking. You have too good a reason to know all about that sort of serial killer, sorry.”

Malcolm shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’m just surprised is all. I could try a podcast with you. For me, the process is imagining the crime from the killer’s point of view. I have to slip on their shoes and walk a mile in them. I know it seems weird.”

“Not at all.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Really?” 

“It makes sense if you think about it. If we can’t imagine ourselves in their shoes, how can we understand their motivation from the outside?” Edrisa sipped her coffee. Orange and chocolate was such a heady mix.

Bright smiled hugely. “Thanks, that’s exactly how I see it! I’d be happy to help out once, just to see what it’s like. Journalism is more my sister’s thing.”

“I think you’ll have fun with it but we don’t have to talk about that now. We can talk about something fun, like your trip.”

“Honestly, I just stayed in my room and read.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m not really a beach person.”

“Neither am I, too boring.”

“Exactly!” His eyes brightened. “People look at you weird when you say that though.”

“People are always looking at me weird.” Edrisa shrugged. “I enjoy what I enjoy. Did you know there’s an Occult Museum here in the city?”

“I did but I’ve never gone.” Bright leaned on the table, excitement on his face. “Along those lines, did you know that there is a tour of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral’s catacombs by candlelight?” 

“No! Oh, how fun.”

“Technically, the candles are LED lights and it’s not a haunted thing, just a historical one.”

“Still, that could be fun. There actually are haunted tours here too.”

“I know. I thought that could be fun or silly, I’m not sure which.” Bright shrugged.

Edrisa wondered if ghosts were a little too close to the bone, so to speak, for him. “I’ve been on them and they’re a mix of history and haunts. I enjoy that but if you’d like, maybe we could go to the occult museum or maybe to Obscura Antiques and Oddities. That’s always eye opening,” she said before she thought it through. She widened her eyes at the implications and waved her hands so frantically she nearly took out their coffees. “I mean as friends, not a date.”

“It’s okay Edrisa, I knew what you meant, and I’d like that. It’ll be fun to be normal for a day.”

“You’re probably the only person in the building that thinks any of those trips are normal. That’s what I like about you, Bright.”

He ducked his head, chuckling softly. “You might be right.”

Edrisa beamed. It had been a long time since she had a friend at work who liked all the things she did. She planned to make the most of it. She was definitely taking Bright on all those trips.


End file.
